During the war, a boy in Pennsylvania was condemned to death. The boy expected to be pardoned and was resting upon that hope. The papers were full of statements that Governor Curtin would pardon the boy. One day Governor Curtin met Mr. George H. Stuart, the noted philanthropist, on the street, and said, “Stuart, you know this boy who is sentenced to death. He is entertaining a hope that I am going to pardon him, and I can’t do it. Now, go and tell him.”
Mr. Stuart afterward told me that it was the hardest duty he had ever performed, but it was an act of mercy. When he entered the cell the prisoner rushed to him and cried, “Mr. Stuart, you are a good man; I know you bring me a pardon.”
Mr. Stuart didn’t know what to answer, but he summoned courage and told the boy the truth. The boy fell in a faint at Mr. Stuart’s feet when he found his false hope taken away, but it prepared the way to tell him where alone a true and lasting hope might be found.